Violet Trefusis

Violet Trefusis
Trefusis in 1920
Born	Violet Keppel 6 June 1894 London, England
Died	29 February 1972(1972-02-29) (aged 77) near Florence, Italy
Occupation	Novelist, radio broadcaster
Spouse	Denys Trefusis ​ ​ (m. 1919; died 1929)​
Partner	Vita Sackville-West Winnaretta Singer
Parents	George Keppel Alice Edmonstone
Relatives	Queen Camilla (grandniece)

Violet Trefusis (née Keppel; 6 June 1894 – 29 February 1972) was an English socialite and author. She is chiefly remembered for her lengthy affair with the writer Vita Sackville-West that both women continued after their respective marriages. It was featured in novels by both parties; in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography; and in many letters and memoirs of the period roughly from 1912 to 1922. She may have been the inspiration for aspects of the character Lady Montdore in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate and of Muriel in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium (1982).

Trefusis herself wrote many novels, as well as non-fiction works, both in English and in French. Although some of her books sold well, others went unpublished, and her overall critical heritage remains lukewarm.^{[citation needed]}

Born Violet Keppel, she was the daughter of

Trefusis is best remembered for her love affair with the wealthy Vita Sackville-West. Virginia Woolf described this by analogy in her 1928 novel Orlando. In this romanticized biography of Sackville-West, Trefusis is represented by the Russian princess Sasha.^[4][5]

The two women both wrote fictional accounts that referred to this love affair (Challenge by Sackville-West, and Broderie Anglaise, a roman à clef in French by Trefusis). Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson wrote the non-fiction Portrait of a Marriage (1973), based on material from his mother's letters, and adding extensive "clarifications", including some of his father's point of view. Such works explored other aspects of the affair. Aspects of Trefusis' character also featured in other novels, including Lady Montdore in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate (1949), and Muriel in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium.^[6]

Each of the participants left extensive written accounts in surviving letters and diaries. Alice Keppel, Victoria Sackville-West, Harold Nicolson, Denys Trefusis and Pat Dansey also left documents that referred to the affair.^[5][a]

Diana Souhami's Mrs Keppel and her Daughter (1997) provides an overview of the affair and of the main actors in the drama.^[5] When Violet was 10, she met Vita (who was two years older) for the first time. After that, they attended the same school for several years and soon recognised a bond between them. When Violet was 14, she confessed her love to Vita and gave her a ring. In 1910, after the death of Edward VII, Mrs Keppel made her family observe a "discretion" leave of about two years before re-establishing themselves in British society. When they returned to London, the Keppels moved to a house in Grosvenor Street. At that time, Violet learned that Vita was soon to be engaged to Harold Nicolson and was involved in an affair with Rosamund Grosvenor. Violet made it clear that she still loved Vita, but became engaged to make Vita jealous. This did not stop Vita from marrying Harold (in October 1913), who was also bisexual. Vita and Harold maintained an open marriage.

In April 1918, Violet and Vita refreshed and intensified their bond. By that time Vita had two sons, but she left them in the care of others while she and Violet took a holiday in Cornwall. Meanwhile, Mrs Keppel was busy

The climax came when Harold told Vita that Violet had been unfaithful to her (with Denys). Violet tried to explain, and assured Vita of her innocence. Vita was much too angry and upset to listen, and fled saying she couldn't bear to see Violet for at least two months. Six weeks later Vita returned to France to meet Violet. Mrs Keppel desperately tried to keep the scandal away from London, where Violet's sister, Sonia, was about to be married (to Roland Cubitt). Violet spent much of 1920 abroad, clinging desperately to Vita via continuous letters. In January 1921, Vita and Violet made a final journey to France, where they spent six weeks together. At this time, Harold threatened to break off the marriage if Vita continued her escapades. When Vita returned to England in March, it was practically the end of the affair. Violet was sent to Italy; and, from there she wrote her last desperate letters to their mutual friend Pat Dansey, having been forbidden from writing directly to Vita. At the end of the year, Violet had to face the facts and start to build her life from scratch.

The two former lovers met again in 1940, after the progress of the Second World War forced Trefusis to return to Britain. The women continued to keep in touch and send each other affectionate letters.^[8]

During the

Trefusis received mixed reviews on her books. Some critics credited Trefusis with an "excellent gift of observation" and a "talent for mimicry and flair for decor in most of her books". These qualities were said to be evident in her novels written in English and in French.[10] Other critics stated that her books were not great literature, although they sold well and her readers enjoyed them.^[3][11]

She made many appearances as a pivotal character in other writers' fiction. Nancy Mitford based Lady Montdore, a character in her novel Love in a Cold Climate, on Trefusis. She featured in Cyril Connolly's The Rock Pool, in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium as Muriel, in several novels by Vita Sackville-West, and in Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography as the ravishing "Princess Sasha".^[6][12]

Although her writings spanned much of the twentieth century, many were unpublished.

From 1923 on, Trefusis was one of the many lovers of the Singer sewing machine heiress Winnaretta Singer, daughter of Isaac Singer and wife of the homosexual Prince Edmond de Polignac, who introduced her to the artistic beau-monde in Paris.^[14] Trefusis conceded more and more to her mother's model of being "socially acceptable" but, at the same time, not wavering in her sexuality.^[3] Singer, like Sackville-West before her, dominated the relationship, though apparently to mutual satisfaction. The two were together for many years and seem to have been content.^{[citation needed]} Trefusis's mother, Alice Keppel, did not object to this affair, most likely because of Singer's wealth and power, and the fact that Singer carried on the affair in a much more disciplined way.^{[citation needed]} Trefusis seemed to prefer the role of the submissive and therefore fitted well with Singer, who, whip in hand, was typically dominant and in control in her relationships.^{[citation needed]} Neither was completely faithful during their long affair, but, unlike Trefusis's affair with Sackville-West, this seems to have had no negative effect on their understanding.^{[citation needed]}

In 1924, Mrs Keppel bought L'Ombrellino, a large villa overlooking Florence, where Galileo Galilei had once lived. After her parents' death in 1947, Trefusis would become the chatelaine of L'Ombrellino till the end of her life.^[3] Denys Trefusis died in 1929, completely estranged from his seemingly unfeeling wife. After his death,^[3] Trefusis published several novels, some in English, some in French, that she had written in her medieval "Tour" in Saint-Loup-de-Naud, Seine-et-Marne, France – a gift from Winnaretta.

Joseph Alsop, an American journalist, recounts in his autobiography a meeting with Violet in Florence. "Mrs. Trefusis's enthusiasms had long since inspired the rhyme 'Mrs Trefusis never refuses.' Governor Olson, as it turned out was not refused ... they were much cheered up by one another."^[15]

Nancy Mitford said that Trefusis's autobiography should be titled Here Lies Violet Trefusis, and partly based the character of Lady Montdore in Love in a Cold Climate on her.^[16]

François Mitterrand, who later became President of the French Republic in 1981, in his chronicle La Paille & le Grain, mentions his friendship with Violet Trefusis under 2 March 1972, when he received "the telegram" informing of her death. He goes on to discuss how, before Christmas 1971, he went to Florence to visit her as he knew she was in her last months of life: he had dinner with her and Frank Ashton-Gwatkin, who was a senior Foreign Office official at the beginning of the Second World War, at her house in Florence.^[17]

Trefusis died at L'Ombrellino on the Bellosguardo on 29 February 1972.

In the 1990 BBC mini-series Portrait of a Marriage, Violet Trefusis is portrayed by Cathryn Harrison.

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

• ISBN 978-0-374-11558-6
  .
• Jullian, Philippe & Phillips, John (1976). Violet Trefusis: Life and Letters. Hamish Hamilton
  ISBN 978-0-395-20539-6
  (US edition)
• Leaska, Mitchell A. (1990). Violet to Vita: The Letters of Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West, 1910–1921. Viking Adult.
  ISBN 978-0-670-83542-3
• Mahon, Elizabeth Kerri (2011). Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women. Perigee Trade.
  ISBN 978-0-399-53645-8
• Phillips, John (1985). Last Edwardians: An Illustrated History of Violet Trefusis & Alice Keppel.
  ISBN 978-0-934552-44-8
  .
• Sharpe, Henrietta (1981). A Solitary Woman: A Life of Violet Trefusis. Constable.
  ISBN 978-0-09-464140-2
• Wajsbrot, Cécile, and François Mitterrand (1989). Violet Trefusis. Mercure de France.
  ISBN 978-2-7152-1589-4

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Violet Trefusis.

• Portrait at NPG
• Biographical notes and bibliography
• Nerina Milletti, Due Violette a Firenze (in Italian)
• Picture at NPG, shown with Alice Frederica Keppel (née Edmonstone)
• www.violettrefusis.com
• Violet Trefusis Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
• Vita Sackville-West Papers Relating to Violet Trefusis. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.